Willow Ridge You haven't learned anything, Anakin.

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

His argument bought a snort from her lips. Considering her point made she only half listened to to the bullied king’s remarks. Her face was deadpan as she answered his final question without a second thought “An asset.” for now. wondering if her snickersnee would find its mark in a gap of the old man’s armour or not. He was her mothers confidant, the voice on her shoulder. He would be far more useful to both of them in one piece. She could only hope one day soon her brother would realise it.

The timing was all wrong. If Skoll was allowed to have his way the pack would be torn apart at the seams. Her brothers next move bought a growl of warning from her chest as fat drops of rain started to fall from the sky. “I don’ recall specifyin’ a timeline.” she mused aloud, for Angier’s benefit as much as her brothers, her face turning to the dark clouds overhead, thankful any evidence of this ‘family time’ would be washed away sooner rather than later. The temperature seemed to drop considerably in that moment, a deep breath of fresh air taken in before another exhausted sigh heaved its way from her chest as if the whole situation was beginning to bore her. “Sur’ly we all agree lowest no longer suits m’ brother…” she suggested. “An’ whose ter say Nicolo would e’vn accept the challenge if ‘e was anythin’ less than a subordinate?”

She wasn’t watching Angier anymore, it was Skoll her eyes burned holes in. If he screwed this up for her there would be hell to pay.

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The storm had finally come their way and the rain had begun to fall. It easily soaked into Angier's thinning fur and, after being painfully forced back to the ground, he could see the lightning crackle overhead, feel the thunder reverberate through the earth beneath him. The tables had turned and he stared up into Sköll's face with his lips parted and his breath held in his chest. He could have continued, but not like this, not when he was pinned, physically declared the loser of this unexpected brawl.

“I don’ recall specifyin’ a timeline,” Morganna mused. Just hearing her continue made the Leader outwardly grimace as he stared into the prince's bared, clenched teeth, dreading the sensation of feeling those canines sink deep through his fur and undercoat and against or into his skin. Granted that it was his step-son he was dealing with, there was a certainty there that he would draw blood. “Sur’ly we all agree lowest no longer suits m’ brother…” Angier's jaw quivered now, a small whine coming from him in surrender. He could be an asset of sorts... if he had to. He could yield.

"O' course," he rasped, poking his tongue out as to drag it down the front of his dampened nose. His ears flipped back against his skull if only for a short while. "Sure... Sure. But 'e speaks to yer uncle first." He hastily braced himself and averted his eyes, anticipating the onrush of another growl on Sköll's part. "Ya wanna make yer mother proud, you do it 'er way..."

As much as he wanted to continue on to further assert himself over the aging man, Sköll rumbled in response to hearing Morganna's growl. He supposed he could ease up; he had already upset his mother once, there shouldn't have been any plausible reason to go on and upset his sister also. The large black paw on Angier's throat lifted and, once set into the fading grasses, he stepped backwards and granted his superior his personal space and room to breathe. The rain beat down on his back, gathering in his thick coat and rolling down in places where his fur was unruly, still sticking up in terrible spikes.

Barely allowing his ghost gray irises to leave the king consort's tawny figure, he moved to stand at his sister's side. His upper lip twitched and he gave her a rather appreciative and submissive kiss to her chin. Shortly afterward he made to clasp his teeth around her maw, not to hold her muzzle in one place, but to graze his incisors and the tips of his canines against the bridge of her snout and the underside of her jaw. If they were going to continue on in this way, just as they had since they shared a womb and a den together, they were going to be equals and the prince wanted to establish that first and foremost.

At her left side he leveled himself with her, standing a little shorter than he typically would to accommodate her smaller, more medium-sized build. He snorted once and sheathed his weapons, sealing his teeth behind his lips. At least no blood had been shed today, they both had Morganna to thank for that...

Twice he cast his gaze over to her, honing in on her peach-hued eyes to see what command or unspoken suggestions might lie within them. If they were done here and, it was confirmed that Sköll had procured his place above their yearling half-brother, he was ready to leave. There would come another day for him to best Angier at another rank fight, all he had to do was do what was required of him: challenge Uncle Nicoló.

don't need reason

Morganna Archer

don't need rhyme

While she wholly believed that Skoll would never cause her harm, she wasn’t sure she possessed the physical strength to push him off of if it came down to that. But perhaps Skoll’s final threat was just the push they needed to come out of this on top. It was strange to see Angier so low, and while she neither felt here nor there about his current predicament she knew it was an image her brother would hold on to. Especially when his tongue dragged over his nose and his ears folded back. She smiled a toothy smile, her voice taking on a sickly sweet tone, “I’m so glad we all agree.”

She only dared to relax when Skoll stepped closer to her flank, receiving his submissive kisses with a small grin that quickly morphed to a look of annoyance as his teeth scratched over her muzzle, but she did not retaliate. Soon enough. she thought to herself, wonder if either of the brawlers would have anything else to say for themselves. When no more words were spoken she smiled again, this time just for her brother. “We’ bes’ track down @Sven .” she said, as though nothing had happened at all. “I found a warren I wan’ ter show’ him before bed. ‘e can watch ‘ow they come out ter’ eat while th’ sun sets.” It would be an important lesson for the boy to learn. She began to walk in the direction she thought her nephew might be, expecting Skoll to walk with her.

She didn’t even glance back at Angier once. There was no looking back from here.

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Sköll retreated and with that Angier let out the breath of air his lungs had been holding captive. He thought he could feel the duo's eyes at his back as he rolled over to one side, leaving his back to them. He kept his head low and tucked his chin to his chest as he touched his nose idly to his forelimb, convinced that standing up would provoke another attack from the second-born Archer. For now, he only let one of his large ears perk upward, listening and waiting for their departure back into the willows. The storm dampened his nose and and chilled his cheeks as he waited on the ground. There were a few words spoken on Morganna's behalf but he barely heard her; however, there was no doubt that she was speaking only to Sköll.

There was one more thunderclap and suddenly it seemed that the devilish duo had left him alone. Angier did not yet look over his shoulder though to confirm their leave. Just for good measure, he waited for several minutes more until he felt confident enough that Sköll did not opt to stick around to spy on him or attack him once more. When he finally got up, he did so with tremendous effort. Several vertebrae in his spine popped, as did his shoulder and his neck. He made a face as he shakily stood with his four limbs beneath him. Perhaps Morganna was right; he was getting too old for this...

For some time he merely stood in the clearing with his muzzle lifted to the sky, relishing the feeling of the rain falling against him in sheets. It wouldn't be enough to wash Sköll's stench from his fur but if he could manage it, maybe a visit into Heartleaf Creek would do the trick. He tried again to collect himself but it was with an uneven limp that he continued on his way. Old Gods be damned if they ever let him return to this part of Willow Ridge ever again; it was perhaps the only place within Elettra's domain that he, the reigning Leader, could be bested.

It seemed that Angier would stay down; that realization alone brought a sneer to his lips and something of a wag to his tail. The Leader's head bowed downward and Skoll's interest in the old man also waned. His eyes went to Morganna's face and he returned her smile as she told him that the two of them ought to seek out his son and make an impromptu trip out to a rabbit warren she had recent found. She just wanted to show him, instruct him on how to utilize his senses when tracking and observing prey. The prince gave her a nod of approval. It was probably just about time that the boy started practicing some survival skills; at his age, Sköll had tracked down his white-furred maowse and proved later on that he was decent at snatching it away from his siblings and caching it away where no one but him could find it.

Without another word, the princess made her leave; her brother followed after her as though he had been tied to the tip of her tail by his neck. He let his nose level with her flank as they walked, affectionately nuzzling her hip with the tip of his nose as they drew closer to where Sköll was keeping Sven in a low-lying shrub just a stone's throw away from the Infirmary.

The whole way there he said nothing, keeping to his innermost thoughts and scheming for the most perfect way to introduce Willow Ridge to the possibilities if they accepted him as their Leader in the not-so-distant future as he followed Morganna through the trees. Before they went to retrieve the ghostly royal, Sköll made to step in front of her and stand at his full height. Instead of provoking her into acknowledging that he held the higher ground when dealing with his son, he craned his head in such a way as to tenderly bump his nose to hers - much like Angier did when addressing Elettra. For the first time in months, the thought of Piety failed to cross his mind. All he could see was his sister and the future that had long since been set before him at the time of their birth. Between the both of them, this could work, he gave her one of his impish smiles, and, soon enough, Willow Ridge could be theirs...